Monday, January 21, 2013

MLK Day in Kansas City is often a celebration of rhetoric and pleasantries but thankfully local insiders have some important good news to share for a change . . .

To wit . . .

RECENTLY INSIDERS REVELED THAT DESPITE AN ONGOING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION BATTLE AT THE TOP LEVEL OF THE KCPD . . . BLACK/WHITE OFFICERS SEEM TO BE GETTING ALONG!!!

Check a couple of comments . . .

"No real racial issues between the rank and file with each other. The main issue is between some racist AA commanders and their treatment of those at a lower rank. The complaints voiced in a recent discrimination case are all true. A lot of very good people suffered because of it."

Another insider said . . .

"Yeah, there are a lot of issues that go beyond race and have to do with management style and working conditions. Not to downplay the controversy but ALL of the rank and file have a lot in common when it comes to worrying about local control coming up and effective use of resources. These issues are (usually) more important than the racial stuff."

As usual, there's a lot of common ground to be shared when it comes to suffering under politics as usual . . . And in Kansas City, the quest for power and consequences of a "win at all costs" local government mentality often outweigh the legacy of racial discrimination.

Basically, California voters have been trained to believe that every state program is rife with waste, fraud and abuse, and if only all the waste, fraud and abuse could be brought under control, all the budget problems will be solved without massively cutting programs favored by a majority of Californians, like education, assistance to the poor, and other social services.

Problem is, there isn't a lot of waste, fraud and abuse to bring under control, despite voters' belief that it is rampant. And the state is actually spending money on things in a manner than matches the priorities of voters rather closely.

Quote:The more important Californians felt the programs were, the higher they ranked in state spending and the more savings they would represent if voters were willing to cut—which they weren't.

Interestingly, the prison system is one expenditure voters are willing to see major cuts in. Never mind that cuts already implemented in years past have led to overcrowding, but cutting the prison system even more just won't solve the state's budget problems.

Quote:The least favored state-financed program was prisons. While seven in ten Californians said the corrections budget should be cut; only 15% said it should not and a mere 5% said that budget should expand. Its usefulness as a budget tool is limited, however, since prison spending accounts for only 10% of the general fund.

So basically, California is fucked because voters want something for nothing. They want a welfare system that helps the poor, a robust state-run education system and health care system, but they don't want to have any tax increases to pay for it.

Quote:The findings offered scant guidance to the Legislature, outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrat Jerry Brown, who will become the chief executive in January, and for whom the gargantuan budget deficit looms as the primary focus of the coming year.

"Their priorities are incompatible with resolving the deficit situation," said Republican pollster Linda DiVall, the survey's other co-director.

The guidance they should be seeing is that voters need to be educated on the realities of the state budget. But no one is taking up that guidance.

Quote:Still, in this year's governor's race Republican nominee Meg Whitman argued that such problems were rampant, though she offered few specifics. Brown vowed to trim the size of government and make it more efficient, starting with the governor's office.

Voters embrace those notions wholeheartedly. Strong majorities of Democrats and Republicans, men and women, and voters of all ideological persuasions overwhelmingly said that the deficit could be overcome by cutting waste and correcting inefficiencies.

Overall, 70% of voters said closing the budget gap would require only that waste be cut. Only 24% said deficit difficulties would force cuts in key programs — numbers which varied only slightly among groups that rarely agree on substantive issues.

Problem in California is pensions. You've got people retiring as young as 45 who are receiving six figure pensions plus health benefits FOR LIFE. In some cases they are starting new careers and by age 65 are getting another pension. In one case a 65 year old retiree from academia married a 30 year old woman. After 5 years of marriage she became eligible for his pension if he died, which he did at 71. At her ripe old age of 36 she is hauling in his $170K a year pension FOR LIFE.

Yeah, look at that bitch in the picture. Standing there, all form fitting clothing, with her hat set at an ever so jaunty angle. Shit, how long will it be before the NIGGER officers, start wearing their hats backward, like the civilian NIGGERS do??

The Rank and File have become a team and take care of one another. The command staff has taken care of itself for years and this is just another staff that has decided to do the same, this time they took it even further. There is no leadership at the highest levels, the Rank and File knows that. No direction, and no desire to provide any. The commanders deserve what they get, ignored.

Life as a police officer is SO rough here at KCPD. First off, I’m sick and tired of being made to work 4 days a week. If the command staff was worth a shit they would figure out a way I could be off more days a week than I actually have to work. Anyone ever heard of employees only getting 5 weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of holiday leave/pay a year? What’s up with that?

Occasionally blind luck strikes and the command staff gets something right. For example, doing away with tracking how many arrests/tickets are made each day. I can personally attest that the “honor” system works much better to ensure work is being done on the streets than the old system of making each officer actually track their activity. I realize we have a few officers who go a year on patrol without actually writing a ticket but that doesn’t mean they are not trying.

This master patrolman thing is just another example of the working class getting screwed! We were told that eventually everybody was going to get this promotion along with no added work or responsibility and the right to refuse being the acting sergeant. WTF?

1. "Life as a police officer is SO rough here at KCPD. First off, I’m sick and tired of being made to work 4 days a week" We are required to work 40 hours a week, which we do. We just do it in 4 days.

2. "Anyone ever heard of employees only getting 5 weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of holiday leave/pay a year?" We get the same thing every other city employee gets, what we were promised.

3. "For example, doing away with tracking how many arrests/tickets are made each day. I can personally attest that the “honor” system works much better to ensure work is being done on the streets than the old system of making each officer actually track their activity." No one asked to get rid of stats, that was done by the upper command to reduce OCC's, period.

4. "This master patrolman thing is just another example of the working class getting screwed! We were told that eventually everybody was going to get this promotion along with no added work or responsibility and the right to refuse being the acting sergeant. WTF?" Give them responsibilities, who cares. They earned their promotions, make them earn their paychecks.

You missed one thing, how about the residency requirement? The fact that DC Higgens lives in Smithville, and has for years. The fact that she parks her car in a building and goes in the house with her husband. The fact that the chief's office was provided all the information and refused to do anything about it?

Kansas City has gotta be the biggest joke in America! The cops are fucked up, the city's fucked up, the streets are fucked up and it just keeps on going. What a deluxe shithole to live in. Kansas Fucking City...Ah ha, that's what KFC means...Makes sense now.

You whiners quit complaining about the command staff and get back to work! I will crush your dreams, so you better black down...I mean back down. You white folk don't know how hard it is to be a black male DC who looks like they're 10 months pregnant. Or be a female DC who eats at the same intersection as the boys do. Or be so stupid your wife has to write all your memos. Or have to commute all the way from Smithville every day. So, like I said, get back to work.

Contact

Search TKC Archives

Subscribe To

Disclaimer

If believe you are the owner of a photo shared on TKC please send me a message and I will gladly provide credit or remove the image. Also . . . If you have a problem with something I've written then send an e-mail and we can discuss it further.

Additionally . . .

Please refrain from reading this blog if you don't have a sense of humor and a good looking mother.